Posted on Wed, Jan. 03, 2007
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Ban on caviar partially lifted
A move by a U.N.- sponsored organization lets Caspian Sea nations legally
sell limited amounts of caviar.
BY FRANK JORDANS
Associated Press
GENEVA – A United Nations panel has lifted a ban on international
trade in several types of caviar from the Caspian Sea, but it still
hasn’t decided whether to permit exports of the highly prized — and
hugely expensive — beluga variety, an official said Tuesday.
The move by a U.N.-sponsored conservation organization means that
Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan can legally sell
limited amounts of the gourmet delicacy on the world market in 2007.
Last year, the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES, banned the global
trade in most Caspian caviar — the processed eggs of the sturgeon —
to help protect the endangered fish.
Only Iran was allowed to export caviar from certain fish that are more
abundant in its waters. The website of a Seattle caviar company offers
one type of Iranian caviar for $2,960 per pound. Beluga caviar, still
under a U.N. ban, can sell for $5,000 a pound or more, depending on
taste and quality.
”This is very good news,” said Armen Petrossian, whose family
business in Paris has been selling caviar for more than a
century. “It’s very important that there is a legal trade in order to
support the restocking efforts.”
The legal market in caviar is about 100 tons annually, he said, and
worth about $265 million. The black market, supplied by poachers, is
about the same size, Petrossian estimated.
The U.N.’s 2006 ban ”undoubtedly helped to spur improvements to the
monitoring programs and scientific assessments carried out jointly by
the five Caspian neighbors,” CITES Secretary-General Willem
Wijnstekers said.
The Caspian nations — all former Soviet states, except Iran — have
made great progress in their conservation efforts, said CITES chief
scientific officer David Morgan. But he added: “I can’t disguise the
fact that the situation is still serious in all countries of origin
for all sturgeon species.” The Caspian’s sturgeon population has
declined by more than 90 percent in the last century, he said.
”That’s why we have to redouble our efforts together with the
countries concerned to make sure that we can rebuild the sturgeon
stocks in the interests of the species and the local people who are
using them,” Morgan said.
Under the U.N. action, caviar and meat from the Caspian stocks of
Russian sturgeon, Persian sturgeon and stellate sturgeon can now be
legally tradedon the world market.
CITES, based in Geneva, sets annual quotas for caviar exports that are
recognized by many countries. Its 2006 quota for caviar from beluga
sturgeon and several other Caspian species was zero.
Although CITES has lifted its effective ban on the trade in three
species, its export quotas for those species are still on average 15
percent lower compared with 2005.
CITES postponed for a month a decision on whether to permit the export
of caviar from the rare and expensive beluga sturgeon to give the five
Caspian nations time to provide more information on the health of
their beluga sturgeon stocks.
© 2007 MiamiHerald.com and wire service sources.